Ichor | Sly Fox Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
This Abbey-style Quadruple brewed with German Pils and Roast malts and dark candi sugar, hopped with German Tradition hops. Luscious and seductive, Ichor is brewed for both the body and the soul. This beer will improve with careful aging but is ready to drink now.

This beer is really something different,whats up with the sticky bottle cap?Pours a deep chesnut brown with some ruby hues with no head to speak of.The aroma is of Xmas fruit cake and some alcohol notes.The taste starts out very sweet with some dried fruit thrown in there,its a sweet beer but not overdone.Iam sure I couldnt drink more than this bottle but still a very good,well made beer.

I had tried this beer once before at the Kelso Cask Festival a few months back. My mouth was overwhelmed that day by the unholy amount of Green Flash Imperial IPA I was drinking, so I didn't really get it. This time, I really did, on tap at The Gate for a Sly Fox festival.

Ichor is a thick black mass of delicious, lightly carbonated brew. It has fruit, vanilla, and some spice going on and the carbonation is light and tasteful. This beer is really immense at 10% ABV and it definitely catches up with you as you drink it. A nice pint glass full of this really set me straight. Sly Fox shows their strength here in making beers that are balanced yet opinionated, and it was cool to see a Hop forward beer and a Malt forward beer back to back. (Consumed after a Sterling IPA Project IPA). I sat on the Ichor for a while and talked a whole bunch of shit while it just got smoother and mellower, and the heavier aspects crept up as time went on, some caramel appeared, and then fruit took over. Great brew.

A: a medium brown with a hint of red, having excellent clarity an number of fine floaters. The head is a long lasting thin cap, off-white leave some light lacing on the glass.

S: Dark cherries and dried fruit dominate with a light touch of chocolate and malt sweetness. There is a Christmas like spice aroma going that's mostly clove and ginger. A soft perfumey alcohol note.

T: A rich, sweet malty beer with moderate fruit flavors of dark cherries and some dried fruit. There is a moderately-low bitterness and a very light spicy hop flavor. The balance is moderately sweet with alcohol. The finish is sweet with an aftertaste of malty sweetness and cherries.

M: Medium-full bodied with a moderately-high level of carbonation. There is a good amount of warmth and moderately-high creaminess.

O: A good after dinner beer that is like sugar glazed cherries, prunes and raisins. It borders on being cloying, which I not my favorite but it's a solid beer with nice belgian character.

A - Very dark mahogany, very little light transmitted, nice head that fades quickly but leaves a lacing on top.

S - Plumbs, dates, lots of dark and sweet fruit aroma.

T - Very much like the aroma, lots of dark malt crystal malts give it some raisin and plumb flavors, but they almost taste candied because of the sweetness...good flavor but the sweetness is approaching cloying as if there is some brown sugar or molasses in there after fermentation.

M - Although there is definitely some left over sugars the body is just moderate and does not finish too heavy.

D - Not without flaw, but a good tasting and easy drinking big Belgian style quad.

This bottle had been in my cellar at least a year. It pours into my glass a dark cola brown color with mellow carbonation and a small off white head that leaves quickly. Aromas being with dark candied malts and fruits. Brown sugar, cherry, slight vanilla and an earthy, somewhat spicy yeast tone. Raisins and caramel work in as well.

First sip is a smooth rich maltiness upfront. Dark candi sugar with brown sugar sweetness as well. It rolls into cherry, vanilla and a spicy, earthy yeast flavor. Dark raisins come in on the finish. Overall the brew is incredibly smooth and silky with a touch of bitterness on the end.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a mellow, laid back carbonation. It could be a little more carbonated but I can't really complain. An easy drinking American brewed Quad that's well worth seeking out. A yummy treat from Sly Fox.

Caged and corked Belgian bomber. $7.50 from New Beer in NYC. No vintage/bottling info. Opened with no pop, hmm, poured with little head being generated, low carbonation noted. Darkest of brown shades, no head, no lacing. Nose is strongly of raisiny bourbon. Strong, heady brew, notes of more raisins, cola, vanilla,brandy, dark grains and ripe fruits, on the sweet side, could use some more thickness on the palate. Fine brew that could use some more complexity and depth to earn world class scores. I'd like to try this one with a year or two in the bottle. Still well worth a try. Nice cold weather night caper.

Huge thanks to DarkerTheBetter for this one...
Dark brown in color...mahogany highlights with some natural light.
Less than a half a finger of light tan head...thin lacing forms as it quickly disappears.
Nice aroma...figs and cherries in the aroma with no alcohol detected.
The taste is fantastic...quite sweet with a huge grape/fig flavor. The alcohol is very well masked and finishes sweet, yet also dry...not overly bitter.
Mouthfeel is maybe thin for the style, and the carbonation is low...goes down too easy, but you know to take your time with this one after you start to warm up.
Very impressed with this bottle conditioned beauty from the folks at Sly Fox.

Great packaging Sly Fox is looking good especially since it's a new beer in the Pittsburgh market...taken home and split with a friend...yeah split this one with a friend. Appearance...pours with minimal carbonation the luciously textured cola colored brownish plum hue of the body is paired with a thin large bubbled light tan creamy head leaves behind thin sparse specks of lacing around my chalice. Aromatics are heavy on the anise just like my Italian grandmothers cookies, alcohol infused fruit esters such as plum, raisin, and tart apples, hint of vanilla beans with a spicy finish...very complex. Flavor has a vinous character with more of that tart apple, raisin, over ripened fruit soaked alcohol feel to it, the alcohol isn't burning anything well hidden soft sweetness spiced dark christmas bread with soft vanilla and powdered chocolate notes present. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied carbonation is lacking but does indeed go down very smooth silky presence on the palate. Drinkablity incredibly yet dangerously drinkable seek out a DD for this fine creation out of Eastern PA, I enjoyed it with good company.

T - Sweet dark fruits upfront, a little heat from the alcohol, fading into cured dates, dark fruit preserves, and a note of port on the finish.

M - Creamy with moderate carbonation, little sticky on the finish.

O - Very rich and full quad, paired nicely with a shoulder roast braised in black IPA. I think this bottle would have been better if given a few more months, but I couldn't wait, it paired too well with the dinner at hand.

2006 vintage in 750 ml bottle, corked and caged. Like the Incubus I just had, there was no real fanfair when I popped the champagne cork but the smell and taste were surely there. The aroma was malty and fruity (figs and raisins). The taste was malty sweetness and deep fruity. The taste of raisins really comes through on the tongue. Like the Incubus, the abv is masked very well although there is a touch of alcohol going down. The active carbonation gives this fine beer a medium body and leaves it pretty drinkable.

After a tiring struggle with the cork, which would not budge no matter what force I applied to it, the thing finally gave way with a very wimpy "pop." Not "pop!!!" but "pop." Nice and polite. Kinda worries me.

Looks healthy enough on the pour, with a thick foamy head that snaps and crackles down to half-size slowly, sitting on top of an absolutely gorgeous dark rusty/ruby-shaded brown. The regal reddish hue turns this into quite the beautiful beer.

Aroma is clearly quite Belgian in character, especially in the yeast department, but the malts also give off a vinous quality that reminds of the best Belgian quads. Lots of grape, obviously, but also other mild fruits, mingling with the yeast in a most pleasing way. Not terribly complex, but quite nice all the same.

Here's one where taste and mouthfeel work significantly hand-in-hand. Flavor-wise this is grape-y, with a strong alcohol warmth that nobody could call "well-hidden", but with the velvet-smooth texture, the mildly funky yeast and the sweet dark fruit, it becomes more like a robust red wine or a sherry: a sweet concoction made exclusively for sipping. A beer that takes on new dimensions and certainly defies many people's idea of what beer is and can be. It doesn't hit you over the head, just pushes the limits in a different way than other big beers.

Tasty, soothing, rich, sweet, well-made and different. You better like grapes and red wine if you're gonna tackle this. The closest comparison I can make is Westvleteren 12, another vinous quad of fine quality. Not only in terms of flavor, but it looks similar, smells similar and has that same dry, sticky finish. I won't hold out for the opportunity to try them side by side, and I'm not saying it's "as good as", cuz it's not, but if you're jonesing for a Westy 12 and can't locate one, join the club and go for this instead.

A rich and sweetish combonation of fruit and mild spices that was a delight to sip with supper.The promise is that this could age, I think it was 1.3 years in my basement. It was very little carbonated, and may be better on tap.
German Pils and Roast malts and Belgian Candi Sugar, German Tradition hops. The alcohol was present. Very much like an American take on the quad, still very good.